Question re: FM broadcasts from units not being heard by other players

[El Vert]

Can anyone tell me what steps are necessary to have the other player(s) in a multiplayer scenario be able to see/hear broadcast FM channels? This is in reference to the Huey, but probably pertains to any other aircraft.

 

I have a scenario with downed pilots who activate and broadcast on an FM channel, and the idea is that the Hueys use that broadcast as a homing beacon to go find and rescue them.

 

It works flawlessly for me as the server host, but the other player does not get any of those broadcasts, no matter what I do.

 

I've done it several different ways to try and make it work, mostly by having the broadcast sent multiple times to make sure the other player is in the scenario when a broadcast is sent, but no joy. The way I'm doing it is to insert a Perform Command at a waypoint (or two, or three) for the broadcasting unit to first Set Frequency, and at the same waypoint, another Perform Command right after that to Transmit Message, with a continually looping .ogg sound file.

 

Whether they do it once, twice, or three times, I'm the only one who can hear/see the broadcast and the other player gets nothing.

 

I've tried upping the power of the broadcast (the default 10, then 100, 1000, and finally 10000), but that doesn't seem to change anything. I've tested it by flying each of the other Hueys, both on and offline, and I can hear/see all broadcasts no matter which aircraft I use, so the problem seems to be tied to the fact that I'm the server host.

 

P.S. I am not a programmer, I don't know anything about LUA, and I am not (yet) using any of the 3rd party tools (MIST, CTTL, etc.) I've read about. Hoping to be able to do this with just the DCS mission editor. Oh yeah, if it matters, my DCS is the Steam version.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

El Vert

[feefifofum]

Seems to be, based on my own experience, that any players must be present at the time the broadcast in initiated in order to hear it; automatic looping doesn't seem to do the trick.

 

You might be able to make this work by manually looping the message, with transmit message as a triggered action, and a time since flag switched condition that resets itself and rebroadcasts the message once the .ogg finishes.

[BaD CrC]

Or you can use the CSAR script that works great in MP.

[Johnny_Rico]

Seems to be, based on my own experience, that any players must be present at the time the broadcast in initiated in order to hear it; automatic looping doesn't seem to do the trick.

 

You might be able to make this work by manually looping the message, with transmit message as a triggered action, and a time since flag switched condition that resets itself and rebroadcasts the message once the .ogg finishes.

 

 

yep u need to be on the server when the transmisson started, manual loop will work (but not loop inside radio command)

[El Vert]

Thanks for the quick replies and suggestions - some additional thoughts:

 

I am positive that the other player is connected to the server and actually flying when the radio messages are first sent - most of them take place 30 minutes or more after the scenario starts. So I think whatever I'm doing wrong is not related to whether the other player is in the scenario.

 

I also wanted to ask more about this response from Johnny Rico:

 

"manual loop will work (but not loop inside radio command)"

 

I think that's how I'm trying to do it, a loop inside the radio command. When the unit gets to the waypoint where it is supposed to send the message, it first sets the frequency using the Set Frequency dialog, and then at the same waypoint sends the broadcast via the Transmit Message dialog by using the .ogg sound file, which is set as a continuous loop in that dialog. I don't know what is meant by a "manual loop"; any further suggestions?

 

To FeeFi:

 

I have seen old (several years old) posts from people having the same problem where it was suggested that doing this using flags and varying True/False settings would work. As near as I can tell that means that every second there is a new trigger command running, right? Just to keep the trigger overhead down, I was hoping to avoid that and was thinking that maybe this had been fixed so that it works the same for other players as it does me as the server host; but maybe not - so thanks for the suggestion!

 

El Vert

[feefifofum]

Use a switched condition type and time since flag to avoid executing the broadcast every second. I.E. wav/ogg is 45 seconds, turn on flag 1 to trigger the broadcast initially. With a switched condition at TIME SINCE FLAG (1, 45) transmit the message and use FLAG OFF (1) FLAG ON (1) to reset the timer.